Meet Marcos

Name: MarcosHometown: Madrid, Spain and Manila, PhilippinesFavorite food: Fresh coconutsEarliest memory: Racing around on my plastic tricycle on the rooftop of my grandmother’s home in Makati, Metro Manila, at about 90 degrees and 100% humidity, with the background noise of a busy city’s motorcycles and busesIf I could meet one person dead or alive: SiddhÄrtha Gautama, some 2,600 years ago

After my interview with Marcos, I decided that he’s some sort of Clark Kent of the techie world–what else explains a Software Architect and Operations Research Analyst with a ‘secret’ identity as a music producer, pianist, and former model?

Born in the Philippines and raised in Spain, Marcos came to New York City at the age of 17 to attend Columbia University for Computer Engineering. He snagged a job after college, but when this came to an end, Marcos, who had been avidly playing piano for some time, decided to strike out on a different path: music school. “Well,” Marcos had thought, “I’m 23, if I don’t do this now, I’m never going to do it.”

And so, Marcos roped in a scholarship to the renown Berklee College of Music. He started a band, which evolved into the acid jazz marvel Satya Project. Before his days as a musician extraordinaire, however, Marcos modeled for print, billboards, and commercials in the Philippines. He became the face of Axe, Nestea, Centrum, and Burger King– to name a few. “I was on the tray lining of Burger King, holding this big beef burger… and I’m vegetarian. I should never have touched that burger!” he says.

After all this world-stomping, Marcos decided to return to his original love, computers. So, he went to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University for a masters in e-Commerce technology, and scored a job at ModCloth shortly after!

What a story, eh? Don’t forget to see which ModCloth items made Marcos’ employee picks!

Being a techy and musician is a funny mix isn’t it! I know people are really surprised when I tell them I’m a singer-songwriter and then say I do websites on the side of my full time job =P. Maybe they think geeks can’t have style? Who knows!